The First Day of School

Today was the first day in a brand new school (again) for Patrick, Annie, and Aidan. Yesterday, Ryan had them write a paragraph about the year ahead - thinking about their personal goals for the year and how they could improve on previous years. (Yes, heady stuff - that's what all that PhD money buys you...) They went something like this: "I will not act weird." "I will not argue with people about things I don't really know anything about." "I will not draw attention to myself." Couldn't we all benefit from these virtues? Seriously - if I went to work everyday with these mantras: 1. Don't act weird. 2. Don't argue about things about which I know nothing. 3. Don't draw attention to myself --- I would be very successful and well-liked! Another family goal was to pack healthier lunches. We already do pretty well, but we wanted to cut down on processed lunch meats and sugary snacks disguised as fruit. However, our efforts were somewhat thwarted by a note home telling us that a child in one of our children's classrooms was severely anaphylactic and so we should not bring: 1. peanut products 2. nuts 3. eggs 4. Anything produced in a factory with nuts or eggs 5. Anything that could have come in contact with any surface involving nuts or eggs. Now I don't know what to pack in the lunches. The strange thing is, neither Ryan nor I can remember knowing ANYONE, when we were kids, who was allergic to anything -- maybe a run-of-the-mill allergy like dust or hay or milk, but nothing like the things we're encountering now. I digress. The day turned out to be a total success. God has been gracious to us in the provision of good teachers and kind companions and our kids came home very excited. We're excited for a school that follows the liturgical calendar (tying in our home and church life), prays faithfully, and cares about the community. The kids need to brush up on the Sign of the Cross (Notre Dame is a Catholic Elementary School) but then again, who doesn't? Tomorrow -- Ryan's first day. I should go and make sure his name is on all his things.